Indonesia Kalimantan Air Quality Index approaching 2000!

Air Quality Index of PM10 at Palangkaraya approaching 2000 yesterday, it was recorded at extremely hazardous level of 1995 ug/m3 on 11 am and it was fluctuating around 1700 level.

The highest AOI of 1955 ug/m3 recorded at Palangkaraya, Kalimantan on 11am (Source)

Based on the ASMC ASEAN Haze monitoring, the thick haze has extended further into the South China Sea area on 22 September 2015. The current haze situation is strongly influenced by the Tropical Cyclone that changing the regional wind pattern.

The hotspot activities in Sumatra could not be fully determined due to cloud cover. However, moderate to dense smoke haze continued to be observed in central and southern Sumatra and the haze has spread to the sea areas east of Sumatra. The haze situation in Kalimantan has deteriorated further and some haze was observed to spread to the South China Sea.

Steps to Predict the Haze Situation in ASEAN region

For further update of haze situation in Southeast Asia region, we recommended to gather information of the Indonesia haze index from BMKG, and compare with local API in Malaysia and Singapore. Currently, AQICN is doing a great job in combining the Air Pollution Index for the Southeast Asia region. The latest hot spot conditions will be available at night from the ASMC portal. ASMC portal will provide the wind pattern in the region.

If you are staying at Kuching and wish to know what could be haze situation 6 hours later. First, check the PM10 AOI from BMKG, compared the AOI of Palangkaraya and Pontianak. Then, check the latest API from the Environment Department. If the Pontianak AOI is in the hazardous level, while API of Kuching still healthy, then you might expect the increment of API in next few hours if the wind blows the hazardous air across the boundary to Sarawak.

You can check the wind pattern data from ASMC. Please kindly reminded that wind pattern can change rapidly, the level of haze situation strongly depend on the monsoon as well as local weather pattern. The Haze Alert from ASMC is very helpful to understand the possible haze situation in near future.